Testing irregularities took place only at Eisenhower Elementary School on Green Bay's southeast side, school district officials said today. / Jim Matthews/Press-Gazette

Written by

Green Bay Press-Gazette

Green Bay School District attorney Ann Patteson, right, answers questions about testing irregularities at Eisenhower Elementary School at the district offices on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. At left is school superintendent Michelle Langenfeld. Margaret Christensen, assistant superintendent of human resources, is at center. / Jim Matthews/Press-Gazette

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Eisenhower Elementary was the only Green Bay School District school that showed systemic problems with the administration of practice standardized tests, a district report found.

“The larger picture is Eisenhower School,” district superintendent Michelle Langenfeld said today in an interview with the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “We didn’t find anything of significance in any other school.

“I think the other piece we’re trying to focus on is working with teachers across the district to be successful.”

The district will work with teachers and staff members to create a standardized operating procedures and protocols in the administration of the the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concept Examination, she said.

The district released today a report that details the results of its investigation into the testing problems during the administration of WKCE exams last fall. It noted that the percentage of live test items in the mathematics practice test at Eisenhower ranged from 36 percent in grades three and four to 76 percent in the fifth-grade 2011 WKCE test.

Although students took the test in the fall, second-graders prepared for the exam they would receive the following the school year, the district said.

The state Department of Public Instruction earlier this year threw out results of a state math exam taken by third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Eisenhower, saying students at the southeast-side school had "an improper advantage" on the annual WKCE. In March, the state department said about 200 students "in these grades were exposed to live items prior to testing."

The district’s investigation lasted from Oct. 13 to April 27, the report said.

Eisenhower staff members were directed by then-principal Claudia Orr “to preview the upcoming WKCE test prior to its administration at a minimum for the past two years,” the district reported. Orr now has an administrative job in the district and she will remain in that job for the 2012-13 school year, Langenfeld said.

Margaret Christensen, assistant superintendent of human resources for the district, would not say whether Orr or other school employees were disciplined for their role in the testing problem.

(Page 2 of 2)

She acknowledged that Orr initially received an email from a district administrator stating she could look at the current 2011 WKCE test.

“It had nothing to do with using test questions from previous tests,” Langenfeld said.

The DPI advised the district to finalize details of its investigation and then focus on test security measures for future tests, the district said.

The district said it will implement a professional learning plan before the standardized tests are taken in the fall. Officials will handle the test materials and received training on test security, it said. The report also notes a number of other testing improvements, including related professional development workshops.

Earlier story

Errors in the handling of standardized tests in the Green Bay School District appears to be limited to Eisenhower Elementary School, the district said in a letter released today.

“While there were some additional minor testing irregularities found during the investigation, no evidence would indicate that any systematic pattern of testing irregularities has existed at any school in the District other than Eisenhower Elementary School,” the district said in its report.

“The District has pursued any and all substantive leads that have surfaced during the investigation that might have pointed to broader involvement in such testing irregularities.”

The state Department of Public Instruction earlier this year threw out results of a state math exam taken by third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, saying students had "an improper advantage" on the annual Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination test. In a March, the state department said about 200 students "in these grades were exposed to live items prior to testing."

District leaders said today the percentage of live test items in the mathematics practice test at Eisenhower that appeared in the 2011 WKCE test ranged from 36 percent in grades three and four to 76 percent in the fifth-grade 2011 WKCE test.

Staff was directed by then-principal Claudia Orr “to preview the upcoming WKCE test prior to its administration at a minimum for the past two years,” the district said in its letter released today. Orr now has an administrative job in the district.

The district ends its report by noting that its “original investigation … revealed no evidence that would indicate that any systematic pattern of testing irregularities existed at any school in the district other than Eisenhower Elementary School.

“The District has pursued any and all substantive leads that have surfaced during and after the investigation that might have pointed to broader involvement in such testing irregularities.”